Hi,

I found insects (?) hiding in my indoor plants last Fall and I'm
hoping someone can help in identifying them. Two pictures of the same
insect are posted on http://web.ncf.ca/eq179/#_insecte_mystère__haut.
The camera's autofocus didn't like the tile floor, so the pictures are
fuzzy.

I nudged one of the insects while it was hanging on a plant, to see if
it would fly, but it just crashed in the floor.

BTW I'm located in Ontario CANADA if it helps to id these.

Thanks,
r

P.S. I couldn't post the pictures to the gardening binaries group
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens as I don't have access to it.

On 9 Jan 2004 10:32:28 -0800, (r) wrote:

Hi,

I found insects (?) hiding in my indoor plants last Fall and I'm
hoping someone can help in identifying them. Two pictures of the same
insect are posted on http://web.ncf.ca/eq179/#_insecte_mystère__haut.
The camera's autofocus didn't like the tile floor, so the pictures are
fuzzy.

I nudged one of the insects while it was hanging on a plant, to see if
it would fly, but it just crashed in the floor.

BTW I'm located in Ontario CANADA if it helps to id these.

Thanks,
r

P.S. I couldn't post the pictures to the gardening binaries group
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens as I don't have access to it.

Okay, I'll play. As you've noted, the photos are blurry, which makes
identification more difficult, but here's what I think you have.

It is a 'true bug', classified in the order Hemiptera. Further, it is a
leaf-footed bug, therefore in the family Coreidae. An example can be seen at:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/biodiver.../Coreidae.html

This may (entirely by accident) be the same species you photographed, but you
could tell that better than I. Regardless, almost all of the leaf-footed bugs
get their food by sucking juices out of plants. There are always some in my
potted tender plants when I bring them in for the winter. I've learned not to
crush or alarm them because of the persistent foul odor they emit. Indoors in
the winter they seem lethargic and rarely fly, but they are certainly capable of
flying. To remove them to outdoors, I coax them onto a piece of cardboard and
gently slip them into a jar before carrying them out.

BTW, if you want to see the families in order Hemiptera, back up one page from
the URL given above, or go to:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/biodiver...Hemiptera.html

On 9 Jan 2004 10:32:28 -0800, (r) wrote:

Hi,

I found insects (?) hiding in my indoor plants last Fall and I'm
hoping someone can help in identifying them. Two pictures of the same
insect are posted on http://web.ncf.ca/eq179/#_insecte_mystère__haut.
The camera's autofocus didn't like the tile floor, so the pictures are
fuzzy.

I nudged one of the insects while it was hanging on a plant, to see if
it would fly, but it just crashed in the floor.

BTW I'm located in Ontario CANADA if it helps to id these.

Thanks,
r

P.S. I couldn't post the pictures to the gardening binaries group
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens as I don't have access to it.

Okay, I'll play. As you've noted, the photos are blurry, which makes
identification more difficult, but here's what I think you have.

It is a 'true bug', classified in the order Hemiptera. Further, it is a
leaf-footed bug, therefore in the family Coreidae. An example can be seen at:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/biodiver.../Coreidae.html

This may (entirely by accident) be the same species you photographed, but you
could tell that better than I. Regardless, almost all of the leaf-footed bugs
get their food by sucking juices out of plants. There are always some in my
potted tender plants when I bring them in for the winter. I've learned not to
crush or alarm them because of the persistent foul odor they emit. Indoors in
the winter they seem lethargic and rarely fly, but they are certainly capable of
flying. To remove them to outdoors, I coax them onto a piece of cardboard and
gently slip them into a jar before carrying them out.

BTW, if you want to see the families in order Hemiptera, back up one page from
the URL given above, or go to:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/biodiver...Hemiptera.html

I found insects (?) hiding in my indoor plants last Fall and I'm
hoping someone can help in identifying them. Two pictures of the same
insect are posted on http://web.ncf.ca/eq179/#_insecte_mystère__haut.

It looks similar to a seedbug:
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Lygaeidae
Possibly Ortholomus scolopax?
Found throughout U.S. and southern Canada
Just guessing, sed5555

"r" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I found insects (?) hiding in my indoor plants last Fall and I'm
hoping someone can help in identifying them. Two pictures of the same
insect are posted on http://web.ncf.ca/eq179/#_insecte_mystère__haut.
The camera's autofocus didn't like the tile floor, so the pictures are
fuzzy.

I nudged one of the insects while it was hanging on a plant, to see if
it would fly, but it just crashed in the floor.

BTW I'm located in Ontario CANADA if it helps to id these.

Thanks,
r

I think we've had this one before in sci.bio.entomology.misc.

"Western" conifer seed bug or leaf-footed bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis.

"Once restricted to western North America but has steadily spread eastward,
reaching Ontario about 1985. Adults and nymphs feed on the developing cones
of a wide variety of conifers such as pine trees. In the fall adults
concentrate on the sunny side of buildings and a few enter homes in search
of hibernation sites." (http://www.ojibway.ca/bugs.asp)

Google will find you hundreds of sites about it.

Keith

In sci.bio.entomology.misc Keith Edkins wrote:

I think we've had this one before in sci.bio.entomology.misc.
"Western" conifer seed bug or leaf-footed bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis.

It almost looks like half of the bug ID requests are leaf-footed bugs.

Weird.






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"The main difference between Bosnia and Palestine is that ethnic cleansing
in the former took place in the form of dramatic massacres and slaughters
which caught the world's attention, whereas in Palestine what is taking
place is a drop-by-drop tactic in which one or two houses are demolished
daily, a few acres are taken here and there every day, a few people are
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-Edward Said (Washington Report 09/1998)

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In sci.bio.entomology.misc wrote:
In sci.bio.entomology.misc Keith Edkins wrote:

I think we've had this one before in sci.bio.entomology.misc.
"Western" conifer seed bug or leaf-footed bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis.

It almost looks like half of the bug ID requests are leaf-footed bugs.

And now that I think about it, the other half are box-elder bugs.


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"We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by
procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any
employment in our own country expropriation and the removal of the poor
must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly"

- Theodore Herzl, Ideological father of Israel,
(The Complete Diaries of Theodore Herzl, Vol I, 1895)

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